How long will the all-plastic era of the pump head industry last?

At present, focusing on the "3060" goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, many energy and environmental protection companies have successively announced their own timetables and roadmaps for achieving this goal, accelerating the "switching channel" to low-carbon environmental protection. The beauty industry is no exception. Under the "environmental protection trend", more and more brands have begun to think about how to integrate environmental protection concepts into product packaging.

Data show that more and more consumers are willing to pay for environmental protection. According to the "Top Ten Global Consumer Trends for 2022" report recently released by Euromonitor International, a global market research company, 65% of consumers have begun to realize the impact of personal actions and purchasing decisions on the environment and put them into action. Correspondingly, they are more Willing to pay for a brand that is consistent with your own values.

It can be seen that on the issue of environmental protection, consumers and brands can still reach a two-way rush.

Brand customers and the consumer market have increasingly strong demands for environmentally friendly products, which has also promoted the development and investment of recyclable and recyclable products in the upstream of the industrial chain. Taking shampoo as an example, its "environmental protection coat" has been armed from the bottle body to the pump head. This market trend has caused more and more pump and valve companies to be "rolled" into the environmental protection track. As for how to "volume", we may be able to get a glimpse or two from the 2022 CBE good companies.

Plastic pump

"The implementation of the double-carbon policy can be said to be my country's high-profile promotion of environmental protection. Our pump and valve companies naturally have to seize this opportunity. From the perspective of packaging, what we can do is mainly plastic, plastic reduction, and plastic reduction." Weight, recyclability, etc. Among them, plastic reduction, weight reduction and recyclability are important strategic guidelines for our product development.” Ms. Hu and Ms. Zheng from the Marketing Department of Silger Quantitative Pump (Wuxi) Co., Ltd. told CBE SUPPLY.

It is understood that the pump head includes 12 small parts such as "elastic elements" and "spherical bodies". The elastic elements and spheres of the traditional pump head are composed of springs and glass beads. During the recycling process, the pump head needs to be disassembled and then recycled according to different materials, which will undoubtedly increase the difficulty and cost of recycling. In response to this recycling pain point, the research and development of "all-plastic pumps" has become a major breakthrough in the upstream pump and valve industry.

After thousands of tests, the R&D team of Zhongshan Lianchang Spray replaced springs and glass beads with green and environmentally friendly plastic materials, and finally created an "all-plastic pump" that can be pressed as a whole and recycled with one button. Recycling difficulty is reduced.

Talking about the application prospects of all-plastic pumps in China, Ge Hong, director of the marketing center of Zhongshan Lianchang Spray Pump Co., Ltd., said: "In China, because many customers lack understanding of 'all-plastic pumps', the products cannot be used in a short period of time. However, with the continuous penetration of the concept of sustainable beauty, more and more customers will choose all-plastic pumps. After the demand increases, its production cost will also be greatly reduced. It is expected that it will be widely used in China within 5 years .”

single material recyclable pump

Different from the domestic beauty consumer market, due to the long-term influence of the concept of sustainable beauty, in Europe, all-plastic pumps have already had a considerable market share. Ge Hong of Zhongshan Lianchang predicts that in 2035, all-plastic pumps will Complete replacement of metal springs. Based on this market demand, many well-known international packaging companies have begun to put the research and development of single-material all-plastic pumps on the agenda.

Aptar (Aptar) officially launched an all-plastic pump called Future in June last year. According to Apta, this product is a major innovation in the quantitative dispensing system. Future is 100% PE, which matches the material of common plastic bottles - PE & PET, which makes the recycling chain easier. Another innovation of this product is that its button can be rotated 360°, and it also has a self-locking system, which means that the risk of the product during transportation can be greatly reduced. It can be said that it is a function specially designed for the e-commerce environment. innovation.

At present, Future has obtained the certification from Cyclos-HTP (a recycling and product responsibility research institute), and has also been evaluated by the European cross-industry unified recycling and traceability method initiative: RecyClass is the highest grade "A" grade, and has also passed the Strict Amazon ISTA-6 e-commerce packaging standard certification.

American Ricky Packaging has launched a single plastic all-plastic lotion pump (Mono-2e) to the market. This product has only one polypropylene (PP) material, consists of 6 parts, and is 100% fully recyclable, which significantly reduces carbon emissions. To promote sustainable development, the product design complies with e-commerce transportation and has passed the Amazon International Safe Transit Association (ISTA6) certification. The single PP pump head has achieved stable production and commercialization after nearly three years of development and market operation. At present, it has been adopted by a fragrance washing and care brand of a world-renowned company.